A Journal of Imagining America

The first issue of Public: A Journal of Imagining America, foregrounding the arts, humanities and design in public life, launched Oct. 5 with a double issue focusing on the linked fates and futures of universities and their surrounding communities.

Public breaks new ground as a hybrid online multimedia journal and archive, with innovative web interfaces to peer-reviewed multi-modal scholarship and creative work. It furthers Imagining America’s mission to make visible the value of cultural disciplines and promotes Syracuse University as a national leader in publicly engaged scholarship and practice.

Public was developed by three Syracuse University professors—University Professor and former Imagining America (IA) Director Jan Cohen-Cruz; Brian Lonsway, associate professor of architecture; and Kathleen Brandt, assistant professor of design—as the first e-journal to be published by Syracuse Unbound, a joint imprint of Syracuse University Libraries and Syracuse University Press. The University’s Information Technology and Support division collaborated on web development and, with Syracuse University Libraries, provides technical support for the journal’s content management systems.

Senior editor and co-founder Cohen-Cruz explains the importance of Public as a space for boundary-expanding artists, designers and scholars.

“Journals have played significant roles in solidifying the contribution of particular bodies of knowledge to public life—think of the role of journals in the women’s movement, in the effort to recognize African American and Latino/a studies as significant scholarly and social projects,” Cohen-Cruz says. “We hope Public will similarly contribute to publicly engaged scholarship and practice emphasizing public humanities, arts and design especially given the possibilities that our online format opens up.”

Co-founders and journal designers Brandt and Lonsway developed the journal’s unique frameworks, including interactive articles and data visualizations, to build upon and highlight the diversities and pluralities—as well as their many forms of engagement—that are at the core of Imagining America.

K. Matthew Dames, interim dean of libraries and University Librarian at Syracuse University, notes, “The journal Public is a concrete example of exciting current and forthcoming work emanating from the Libraries and the Press, and provides further evidence of the Press’ commitment to extending all forms of scholarship into the digital and multimedia platforms.”

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